Melissa Niu is a storyteller at heart.Niu's work ranges from her Broadcast Journalism experience at NBC in Seattle to her recent work as a co-founder and host of the photography platform, [FRAMED] Network. Her passion for photography, music and journalistic skills harvests into a massive need to tell a good story.As a mother of three daughters and running multiple businesses, Niu is constantly seeking balance, health, laughter and progression.

I'm exhausted...in the best way. For three days straight, I had the absolute privilege of sitting in between my dear friend Chase Reynolds from LensRentals.com and the industry's most successful photographers at Photoshop World. Talk about an education and emotional overload! As I sit back and think about the last week, I had to thank my lucky stars that I had a front row seat to learn about gear from the industry's finest.
But it was more than just gear.
Chase and I experienced a first hand view on and off camera about the ups and downs … [Read more...] about In the Studio with LensRentals, Top Photographers & What You Won’t Hear On Camera

On a recent Hot Gear Podcast, Rich Harrington sat with Chase Reynolds over at LensRentals.com to talk about the hot products that they just can't seem to keep on their shelves. And of course, with the recent release of the Nikon D810, it's made the hot topic on this month's "Hot Gear" Segment.
Start listening to their conversation around 36:00.
Get the show here or get it on iTunes Don't forget to post a review on iTunes.
So what is it about this new Nikon D810 that has photographers to jazzed up? According to Chase, this is going to … [Read more...] about Hot Gear: The Nikon D810

"I took this set of pictures at Recoulver Towers on the coast of Kent(UK), in september 2010. Having always been fascinated by this place I wanted to frame the kind of mystique that surrounds it.
I shoot these pictures around midnight, there was a full bright moon but not enough light for my camera to automatically focus, so I used a flashlight, I let the camera autofocus and then set to manual focus.
As far as I can remember these pictures are as shot, I have only adjusted the orientation a little bit.
The camera used was a NIKON D40 and … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Franco Crocetta

This picture was shot on August 10, 2014 with Canon 70-200 f/2.8II and 500mm f/4.0 II using Canon 1Dx's multiexposure function. It featured Dallas' two unique landmarks - Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and the Reunion Tower, and of course, the Super Moon. The first exposure (the foreground) was shot at 200mm focus length; I then changed the lens to 500mm, focused on the Moon and finished up with the second exposure.
More pictures shot at that night can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/yqzheng/sets/72157645933217537/
To see more of … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Michael Zheng

Our friends over at Viewbug put on the largest Photofocus contest in history. And the entries were fantastic. The huge number of entries made it very tough for us as a jury to decide as we were all blown away with the level of talent in that pool.
Congratulations Grand Jury Winner Morning reflections by saintek
It made us feel a part of a cinematic world, great detail, fabulous reflections. Looks fakebut is it? A great combination. Well done. Photofocus Editors
Congratulations Runner Up Leaf Gecko by bridgendboy
Fantastic … [Read more...] about Biggest Photofocus ViewBug Contest Winner

The image is called "Smoke on the Water".
It was taken just before sunrise on Aug. 8, in Londontowne, Maryland.
Camera settings: f/13, shutter 4.0, ISO 200
To see more of Jamie's work, go to
If you would like your photo featured, read this article.
Were excited to feature your work to the Photofocus audience! … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Jamie-Leigh Bissett

My buddy, Mykii Liu, did a review on the Retrospective 5 which was a fairly positive review. The bag seems stylish and trendy enough to fit the needs of the every day photographer. But what if we stepped it up a notch with the Retrospective 7? The 7 has an additional pocket in the back for a small Mac Book Air or an iPad which works perfectly for my needs.
So when I received the bag, my first question was simply personal. Is Retrospective 7 a man's bag or can it fit into my highly superficial need to look/feel stylish?
ThinkTank's … [Read more...] about Is the Retrospective 7 by Think Tank My New Favorite Accessory?

They race by you faster than a speeding bullet with the echo from the roar of their little engines. No, I'm not talking about a race car. I'm talking about something that might be considered the most difficult subject to photograph. The two-year-old. They laugh, they cry, they wiggle and throw tantrums. They run, they mess up their hair, they tear off their clothes and they hide. In other words, the two-year-old child's lack of predictability can be a difficult task for any photographer to capture. So needless to say, a fast camera with a … [Read more...] about Shooting Kids: The Need for Speed with the Nikon D4S and 58mm 1.4

Today's featured photo is shot by Anders Lonnfeldt. Anders took this photo with a Lomography Petzval Lens.
To see more of Ander's work, see his portfolio .
If you would like your photo featured, read this article.
Were excited to feature your work to the Photofocus audience! … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Anders Lonnfeldt

LensRentals.com is a partner here at Photofocus for the simple fact that we love renting their gear, we can always count on them to deliver our gear on time for our commercial and personal shoots, and the people that we work with there are simply awesome. We get to pick the brains of their team of experts before each rental to make sure we're getting everything we need for our shoots. It's seriously a win win and it's changed the convenience and level of professionalism in my own personal style of work.
And of course, we're hooking you up … [Read more...] about Great Deals to Try Gear Before You Buy

Even though the scene as I approached it looked pretty innocent, the cold feel and the mostly invisible landscape above the steps gave me a somewhat creepy, mysterious vision. The light snow allowed for some very high contrast between the steps and surroundings and the leafless trees really added to the cold feel.
The basic part of the editing took place shortly after taking the picture, but it just didn't match my vision at the time, so it sat in the library for a couple of months. The second look spurred the texture addition which tied the … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Jim Denham

This photograph was taken early in the morning against the window light, with a Leica M240 and Noctilux 0.95.
To see more of Eng's work, see his portfolio here.
If you would like your photo featured, read this article.
Were excited to feature your work to the Photofocus audience!
__________________________ … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by KC Eng

We've featured him as our LensRentals Photographer of the Week and his incredible portfolio was quite a hit to the Photofocus community. And to add some "wow" to his name, our friends at SmugMug just put together an incredible film that showcases the hardships against the elements that Chris Burkard must take to get his perfect shot. Sit back and prepare to be amazed.
If you can't see the video, click .
Chriss favorite gear:
I shoot a combination of Nikon and Sony gear. My Nikon D300s is my tried and true. It is my workhorse and doubt I … [Read more...] about The Arctic Swell with Chris Burkard

Double Exposure is catching on as quite the artistic trend. Whether it's digital or analog, the process of double exposing your frame always makes for an interesting and beautiful mix of emotion. And our friends over at ViewBug had a great contest for double exposures, and the top 26 were quite fantastic.
Spirit Within by elyktra
untitled by christian1194
I am part of the nature by Annomar
double exposure by dancingrebel
Gaining perspective by ShootMeNow
On The Inside by TerezaVlckovaPhotography
Double Exposure by … [Read more...] about 26 Most Creative Double Exposure Photographs

Today's featured photo is chosen from ViewBug (The World's Best Photo Contests) community.
To see more of Joe's work, see his portfolio here.
If you would like your photo featured, read this article.
Were excited to feature your work to the Photofocus audience! … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Joe Porter

Over two months ago our partner, LensRentals announced the exciting Lenscap and Lenscap+ protection plans and decided to celebrate with a camera contest by giving away a hot new camera to one lucky winner.
This winner chosen got chance to choose either a brand new Canon 5D Mk III or a brand new Nikon D800. And today, we'd like to congratulate Aimee Martin! Aimee decided to stick with her love for Nikon and chose a brand new Nikon D800.
I asked Aimee her thoughts and besides her being completely shocked and nearly falling out of her chair, … [Read more...] about The Winner of the LensRentals.com Camera Contest

Our friends over at ViewBug had a great contest that was aimed to help bring awareness to the problems that pollution and waste cause. The photos shown are part of a selection of images communicating perspectives from close to 100 countries: The journey leads one through five continents, from the Philippines to Colombia, through India, Lithuania and Mali. The GreenVoice Project involves trainers, journalists, volunteer photographers and reporters who provide their own perspective about the environment, citizenship and volunteerism. Northern … [Read more...] about 19 Photos for Pollution Awareness

Today Adobe announced some pretty exciting things that will help designers, artists, creatives and of course photographers. Photofocus author, Howard Pinksy, put together his Top 4 Features within the new improved Creative Cloud: Focus Area, improvements to Content Aware, the new Spin Blur in the Blur Gallery and improvements to the type tool.
Stay tuned for more tutorials and features of Adobe Creative Cloud throughout the week. To see more of Howard's work and tutorials, head to www.iceflowstudios.com. … [Read more...] about Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 – Top 4 Features

Some artists are born with a beautiful artistic eye, and others are very knowledgeable in the techniques of photography. This particular photographer possesses both characteristics and we are more than thrilled to have Greg Sims a regular author and contributor on Photofocus.
Greg Sims was born and raised in the dynamic beach culture of Southern California. From an early age, Sims was heavily influenced visually by Hollywood cinema, beach life and the incredible visual carnival of So.Cal. Once considering himself a photographic purist Sims … [Read more...] about Meet Photofocus Contributor: Greg Sims

In a recent conversation with Chase Reynolds over at LensRentals, we couldn't wait to talk about all the new "hot gear". As you now know, the LensRentals.com team sees quite a bit of inventory come and go from their warehouse so it's always interesting to hear about the different products that are being moved on a daily basis. The two products he chose? The Sony A7R & the Freefly Movi M5 Gimbal.
Listen to the conversation here. (Starting around 25:00)
Get the show here or get it on iTunes Don't forget to post a review on … [Read more...] about Hot Gear: Sony a7R and Movi M5 Gimbal

Kevin Ames is a commercial photographer immersed in creativity. He shoots fashion, intimate portraits, executive portraits, high-end interiors and works extensively in the arena of digital retouching. And now, we're proud to have him a part of the Authors & Experts team here at Photofocus.
Kevin's photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and on the covers of Professional Photographer, Photoshop User, Jezebel and Atlanta Sports and Fitness magazines. He works for corporate clients including AT & T, Carter's, … [Read more...] about Meet Photofocus Contributor: Kevin Ames

Today's featured photo is chosen from ViewBug (The World's Best Photo Contests) community.
I used my Nikon D800 with 70-200mm lens, at 200mm, 1/200s at f2.8, 2/3 EV. I was with a group of photographers at a local equine rescue facility taking images for them to use to help get the horses adopted and to raise funds. This was a horse that had some scarring on its face so I focused in on the eye. This was more of an inspirational shot than a utilitarian shot. - Lynn Wiezycki
To see more of Lynn's work, see her portfolio here.
If you would … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Lynn Wiezycki

My idea was to create a connection between the three points in the image: between the mountains, the skiers and the house on the left corner. I used my Canon EOS 50D camera at f/5.6 with a EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, exposure at 1/500 and F#56/10 with ISO 100 and focal length of 200/1. Svetlin
To see more of Svetlin's work, see her portfolio here.
If you would like your photo featured, read this article.
Were excited to feature your work to the Photofocus audience! … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Svetlin

Today's featured photo is chosen from ViewBug (The World's Best Photo Contests) community.
This picture was taken at a little man made lake in Victoria BC. The lake is stocked and a place where kids can go learn to fish.. and there is an abundance of creatures that make it their home. I love Macro and as I was searching for interesting things to snap, I saw this small dragonfly in a spiders web. I pulled it out and took a few minutes to get all the web off its wings.. the little guy must have been tired from struggling as it sat for a few … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by JustConnieB

Today's featured photo is chosen from ViewBug (The World's Best Photo Contests) community.
I took this photo from the Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York. Ive always wanted a shot of a skyline, so when I was in New York City going to the Brooklyn Bridge Park was a must. One of the best spots to to see the New York skyline. I was very happy and lucky, the weather had been very bad for many weeks before the day I took this photo. I used my NIKON D800 camera with an aperture at f/18.0, ISO 100 and exposure at 64/1. Philip Slotte
To see more … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Philip Slotte

Today's featured photo is chosen from ViewBug (The World's Best Photo Contests) community.
This photograph was taken in a forest near my home in essex.I always wanted to shoot a surreal dreamy type image in the fog, so we got our props the long victorian night gown and an a white sun umbrella and set out one foggy morning. I combined shots to make it appear as though i was floating. It took many attempts to get the shot right, and we was working against the clock as the sun came up and the fog began to fade. It was a freezing cold morning as … [Read more...] about Featured Photo by Amanda Hughes

In a recent conversation with Chase Reynolds over at LensRentals, we couldn't wait to talk about all the new "hot gear". They see quite a bit of inventory come and go from their warehouse so it's always interesting to hear about the different products that are being moved on a daily basis. The two products he chose? The Sigma 50mm 1.4 and the Panasonic GH4.
Listen to the conversation here. (Starting around 17:15)
Get the show here or get it on iTunes Don't forget to post a review on iTunes.
Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art
The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM … [Read more...] about Hot Gear: Sigma 50mm 1.4 and Panasonic GH4

Banner photo by nito.
It looks like Twitter is starting to be aware of the power of imagery. And this week, the Twitter team announced a few big changes of how you can share your photos utilizing the Twitter platform.
Twitter lets you share photos, in real time, with everyone or with the people you choose. So you can join a bigger conversation. And tell your story in pictures.
So now that they've recognized the power that other apps like Facebook, Instagram and even SnapChat are accumulating from the photo sharing community, they've really … [Read more...] about Watch out Facebook and Instagram! Twitter Now Better for Photo Sharing

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